Saturday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Several months ago a significant change occurred in my family. Our roughly 18 month old daughter, Hosanna, was found at the top of the stairs. No big deal, right? The minor detail that I'm excluding is that we had last left her in her crib. My wife and I took her back in her room, put her in her crib and asked her to show us how she got out. She complied without a fuss and in less than 5 seconds was standing on the floor wondering why our expressions were closer to fear than pride. All of this was occurring just before our third child would be born. Suddenly, we had two bed-sleeping toddlers sharing a room, so we made an investment. We bought a video monitor. That's when we took parent spying to a whole new level.
You might be familiar with parent spying. It is not the act of spying on the other parent, but of spying on your kids. You watch secretly as your daughter eats without bribery or fight when you are out of sight. Or your watch your son see if we can create a mountain of suds in his hand the size of Mt. Rainier because he is convinced you aren't watching. With the video monitor we stepped our game. No longer did we watch Netflix after the kids were asleep, instead we watched my son's moral dilemma about getting out of bed after bedtime. While my son wrestled with the morality of getting out of bed unseen, Jesus admonishes the Pharisees for doing everything to be seen, and a quote from John Wooden comes to mind, "The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching."
For me, all three of these came to a head with today's readings. Ruth showed her true character in a private exchange with Naomi that made it to the ears of Boaz. Boaz showed his character in caring for this outsider in recognition of her integrity. Ruth and Boaz though are in juxtaposition to the Pharisees, who Jesus convicts of only doing things to be seen, calling their unseen character into question.
Are the Pharisees alone in this? Are there parts of our unseen life that does not reflect a desire to be a disciple? Do we put on a show for others? All of these questions should be approached with prayer.
We are not called to do things to be seen, but we do things because we know that our Father in heaven has already seen us and still loves us.
- Spencer Hargadon